.

THE LAWN.
WHEN Diamond got round the corner of the hay, for a moment he hesitated.
The stair by which he would naturally have gone down to the door was at the other side of the loft, and looked very black indeed; for it was full of North Wind's hair, as she descended before him.

And just beside him was the ladder going straight down into the stable, up which his father always came to fetch the hay for Diamond's dinner.

Through the opening in the floor the faint gleam of the-stable lantern was enticing, and Diamond thought he would run down that way.
The stair went close past the loose-box in which Diamond the horse lived.

When Diamond the boy was half-way down, he remembered that it was of no use to go this way, for the stable-door was locked.